You may have heard mutterings about BasicTalk, a brainchild of VoIP provider Vonage.
BasicTalk launched a few weeks ago, but i was lucky enough to be privy to an advance media subscription and have ben playing with it for a while — it’s a great concept, it offers residential VoIP service for $9.99 per month — that’s for unlimited calls in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, and you can continue using your existing phone number.
(Way cheaper than any landline you may currently own, and it has perks I bet that landline doesn’t have.)
It offers unlimited calling throughout the U.S. with no upfront costs, no contract, no hidden fees, no renewal charges, no cost to keep an existing home phone number and no compromises on quality, but is...

Every so often, I like to let the men who wander over to this side of the interweb have a little fun.
And today’s giveaway is especially guy friendly (though totally perfect for anyone who loves their gadgets!).
A router is an often overlooked tech gift, but it’s the integral gadget that will connect all of the iPads, Blu-ray players, Xboxes and smartphones one could hope to own — especially as graduation time and Father’s Day comes around. ithout a router that gets them connected fast, and keeps them connected, they will never fully enjoy these gadgets.
Linksys Smart Wi-Fi EA6500 AC1750 router device is easy to setup — so easy I was able to! – lets you prioritize which devices get access to the most bandwidth, have...

I’m probably in a lot of trouble — Mother’s Day is 2 days away and I haven’t gotten my mom a present yet.
While I roam the streets of Bristol, RI in hope of finding something today, perhaps you can fare better…
If your mom is into her gadgets, you may want to get her something super special — AT&T is celebrating moms with a fun, shareable video e-card for a special edition of the popular “It’s Not Complicated” campaign. In a new rendition of the commercial that will air today through Sunday, mediator Beck Bennett strays from his usual, “what’s better, bigger or smaller?” and instead asks, “who gives the best hugs?” to a unanimous response – mom does! The video e-card can be personalized, offering...

My friends all think I’m crazy.
In the past two weeks, I’ve been to Vegas, Seattle, and Wisconsin — and in 3 days (!?!) I leave for Israel.
I’ll be there for 9 days (10 if we count Monday’s late-night flight), and then two days after I return, I’m going to Rhode Island. And then, from there, a few days later, Jamaica.
I’m pretty sure I’m done for a while after that, but who knows. I’m not complaining — a year ago when I was sick and stuck at home for six months, my wanderlust absolutely consumed me. Now, I’m letting it reign free!
That’s the reason, though, you’ll notice we have a few new interns on the site. I’m very Type A and always resisted giving up the control in order to...

I have a distinct knack for taking the longest possible amount of time to take between two points.
Take my voyage to Fox Cities, Wisconsin this morning, for example.
The flight itself is under 2 hours, a pretty similar route as one may take to get from NYC to Chicago. However, factor in last night’s thunder storms (and the ensuing delays), and the LGA backlash this morning was nothing short of epic.
My 10:20 am flight ended up boarding closer to 12:30, and by the time we had completed our runway queue (on both ends of the voyage), I found myself arriving in my hotel at nearly 3:45 (a half hour to collect myself before my first activity).
Under many a circumstance, this would be me moaning and groaning right now about the epic waste of time the day was, but...

Well sifting through my email this morning, I came across information on WowWee’s new zombie princess collection — and despite being 30+ — knew I had to have them all.
Especially since – and tell me if I’m crazy, I sort of look like Zombie Cinderella!
WowWee is actually zombify-ing princesses from loads of popular fairy tales in their The Once Upon a Zombie collection, including Zombie Little Mermaid, Zombie Belle, Zombie Rapunzel, Zombie Sleeping Beauty, Zombie Cinderella and Zombie Snow White. The fully articulated zombie dolls will include crystal eyes and rooted hair AND come with a doll stand and comb.
So awesome.
The Zombie Princesses will cost $19.99 each and will be available this fall. More info...

After weeks of writing and tweeting about my desire to find a greater zen and a higher sense of purpose, I wondered if the first potential step was A BREAK.
I’m desperately terrible at unplugging — I’ve ruined multiple trips for friends because of it. Picture 2010, when I take a close friend of mine as my date on a 8-day Caribbean cruise press trip. She has a traditional 9-5 office job, and took a week’s vacation – and planned to be on vacation. I, however, brought my computer, BlackBerry, and spent more ship credit that week on data than alcohol (that’s saying a lot) – at one point, as we were sitting poolside, she lamented about the calories in her pina colada.
“Don’t worry about it! We’re on...

Oh, love.
Sometimes I love the idea of love, sometime I hate it — but it usually is dominating everything I do.
The last decade has brought about many new technologies that have changed the way we listen to music, read a book and even how we meet new people. Back in the day, people would strike up a conversation by commenting on the book you were reading or discuss an interesting article in the newspaper, nowadays people are intrigued by your new smartphone or tablet.
Case in point, Duane and Hope had worked in the same building for two years, but finally broke the ice when she asked him about his Sony cell phone. They started dating and are now happily engaged, thanks to that phone!
In honor of Valentine’s Day and the nearly 100 million people that...

A lot of people see Valentine’s as a reason to feel badly about their relationship status (same goes for New Year’s Eve, actually) – but I look at it as a way of celebrating love. That’s all kinds of love – for a special mate in your life, but also for your best friends, your family, your puppies, everyone.
And what’s to hate about a holiday about love? Love is my favorite thing!
But if you do have a special guy in your life, you may just be looking for the ideal gift — check out my Valentine’s Gift Guide for the special man in your life. It’s my latest for...

Every so often — in a midst of a woe-is-me-I’m-cold-and-it’s-nasty-and-I-hate-my-hair day, something pretty great will happen. It’ll be good enough you’ll sorta kinda forget that there’s a blizzard out the window and you just may be taking your life in your hands getting home. You still want to stick around just a WEE bit longer, because, well, here is so much better than out there – and here is currently sort of great.
Yesterday, it was by all accounts rather ugly out — after a very long, wet day, my last stop before heading home to Brooklyn was the Dell Lounge at the Empire Hotel. Throughout New York Fashion Week, there’ll be an array of suites for media to relax and recharge their devices — and...